Eugene O'Connell (June 18, 1815 – December 14, 1891) was the first

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Grass Valley, California. Born in County Cavan, Ireland, O'Connell sailed to San Francisco upon the request of Bishop Alemany for priests to serve in the diocese of Monterey. O'Connell was rector of the diocesan seminary, and later appointed to the Vicariate of Marysville, up in the gold fields. The Diocese of Grass Valley later became the

Diocese of Sacramento The Diocese of Sacramento () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archd ...

Early life

O'Connell was born June 15, 1815, the eldest of four children, in the parish of

Kingscourt Kingscourt, historically known as Dunaree (), is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It is located near the Cavan–Meath border. The town was founded near the site of the old village of Cabra, by Mervyn Pratt, towards the end of the 18th century, ...

, County Cavan. He studied at the diocesan seminary,

St. Finian's College St Finian's College is a secondary school, the diocesan school of the Diocese of Meath. It is located in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, and is under the patronage of The Most Reverend Thomas Deenihan, Bishop of Meath. Rev. Dr. Paul Connel ...

in Navan, then at

St. Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was of ...

, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1842. O'Connell taught at the seminary in Navan from 1843 to 1846. O'Connell then moved to

All Hallows College All Hallows College was a college of higher education in Dublin. It was founded in 1842 and was run by the Vincentians from 1892 until 2016. On 23 May 2014, it was announced that it was closing because of declining student enrollment. The sale ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. During this time, he witnessed the terrible famine years of 1845–1848 in Ireland.

California

In August 1850,

Joseph Sadoc Alemany Joseph Sadoc Alemany, O.P. ( Catalan: ''Josep Sadoc Alemany i Conill''; July 3, 1814 – April 14, 1888) was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of San Francisco from 1853 to 1884. He previously served as the first Bishop of M ...

, Bishop of Monterey, California stopped by All Hallows on his way back from Rome, looking to recruit priests for his new diocese. O'Connell agreed to serve three years. He arrived in San Francisco on July 1, 1851, and was appointed pastor of Mission Santa Inez, where he was also director of the diocesan seminary.Meehan, Thomas. "San Francisco." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 3 February 2019 O'Connell had to learn Spanish to serve the parishioners and teach the seminarians.Boll, John E., "Bishop Eugene O'Connell", Sacramento Diocesan Archives
/ref> In November 1852, O'Connell was assigned to the Church of St. Francis on Vallejo Street in San Francisco. In September 1853, he was named pastor of Mission Delores. There he served as rector and professor of the Diocesan Seminary of St. Thomas Acquinas. The following year Father O'Connell was recalled to All Hallows College in Ireland. He left San Francisco in May 1854 and was appointed Dean of All Hallows. On September 26, 1860

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

appointed O'Connell was

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the newly established Vicariate Apostolic of Marysville. He journeyed to Rome to ask to be relieved of the appointment. When

declined, O'Connell responded, "“You mean I am condemned to the mines.”Dwyer, John. "Homily on the occasion of Bishop O'Connell's re-burial in Sacramento", May 31, 1982, Sacramento Diocesan Archives
/ref> He was consecrated titular Bishop of Flaviopolis, and Vicar Apostolic of Marysville, 3 Feb., 1861, at All Hallows College, by Cardinal Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin. O'Connell reached Marysville 8 June, and was inducted on the following day at St. Joseph's Pro-cathedral by Archbishop Alemany.

Bishop of Grass Valley

In 1868 the vicariate was erected into the Diocese of Grass Valley and Bishop O'Connell was transferred to this title 3 Feb. of that year. Located in northeastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the diocese also included most of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and, early in its history,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and part of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. St. Joseph Church in Marysville served as the pro-cathedral of the vicarate. While the diocese was erected in Grass Valley, O'Connell chose to live in Marysville. He recruited a number of priests to serve in his diocese from All Hallows in Dublin. He served as a

Council Father An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

to the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...

convoked by

. He also attended the

Third Plenary Council of Baltimore The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three meetings of American Catholic bishops, archbishops and superiors of religious orders in the United States. The councils were held in 1852, 1866 and 1884 in Baltimore, Maryland. These three conferenc ...

in 1884. He was instrumental in choosing then

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

Patrick Manogue Patrick Manogue (May 28, 1831 – February 27, 1895) was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church in America. He served as the founding bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento in California from 1886 until his death in 1895. He previously ser ...

to start a ministry in the

Nevada Territory The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada. Prior to the creation of the Neva ...

. Along with Manogue, O'Connell encouraged the Daughters of Charity to help in Nevada. He dedicated Saint Mary in the Mountains Catholic Church in 1864. In 1881, Minogue became his coadjutor.

Final years

O'Connell retired on March 17, 1884. On that date, he was appointed as

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Ioppe. He died in Los Angeles, California, on December 4, 1891. The remains of Eugene O'Connell were moved from Los Angeles to

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

over a hundred years after his death.

References

External links

Stoltz, Eric. "The Forgotten Diocese and the Spurned Cathedral", Cathedrals of California, January 31st, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Eugene 1815 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic bishops of Grass Valley 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States First Vatican Council Irish emigrants to the United States Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth People from Marysville, California People educated at St Finian's College Christian clergy from County Cavan People from Kingscourt